Asiakwa (E/R), Oct. 20, GNA - Members of the African Parliamentarian Union (APU) on Sunday joined children of the Asiakwa SOS Children's Village in the Eastern Region at a luncheon and donated about 70 million cedis towards the upkeep of the children.

The delegates in interacting with the children expressed concern about their plight and said there was the need for such innocent and unfortunate children to be given assistance to live decent lives in the Continent.

The SOS Village is occupied by disadvantaged children, who have either been abandoned or neglected by their parents and are supported to acquire basic education and their future upbringing.

Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Parliament, said it was about time that the Executive arm of Government was up and doing to solve the socio-economic and hard realities in the society so that such peculiar situations as abandonment and neglect of children would be stopped.

He said members of Ghana's Parliament have decided to adopt the Home and to ensure that they contributed to the sustenance and improvement of the living conditions of the children to ensure a conducive atmosphere for the upbringing of the children.

The Speaker on behalf of Parliament donated 20 million cedis as the beginning of their support and urged the school authorities to guide against negative practices that would worsen the plight of the children in their care.

The 70 million cedis was made up of donations from the Chairperson of the APU, Elhadj Ibrahim Boubakar Keita; the Arab, Mali, Nigerian delegations gave 10 million cedis each, the delegation from Congo Brazzaville, eight million cedis; Sudan, two million cedis; Sierra Leone, 200 dollars and Kenya and Morocco 150 dollars each. 20 Oct. 03